Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 1.6%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price rose 1.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $173.12 and last traded at $172.42. Approximately 18,831,786 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 61,226,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.71.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. DA Davidson started coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.53.

Apple Trading Down 1.1 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 14.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 578,897,858 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $112,288,818,000 after buying an additional 2,616,084 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $56,396,763,000 after acquiring an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Apple by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after acquiring an additional 7,736,013 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.